Protect & Serve LotR-Lord of the Rings Fanfiction - Fan Fiction -WattyAwards2012

Chapter 3: Waiting in the Darkness

This is bigger than my entire apartment in Chicago was, I thought to myself as I looked around the palatial room I'd been led to. Rooms, I corrected myself, noting that several were attached to the bedroom. I wondered if the quarters Gandalf and Pippin were sharing next door were this grand.

I crossed the room to kneel on the bench in front of the open window. The view was breathtaking. And a hell of a drop, I realized looking down. But looking to the north at the Anduin, I took in the picturesque sight of the mist-covered water colored orange by the sunrise, and looking at the sight, I could understand why Boromir had so loved this city.

It was too populated for my taste—but then again, Chicago had been too—and there wasn't the vast openness of green that appealed to my heart; instead, it was unending stone and masonry. Beautiful in its mastery, but it didn't appeal to my heart.

But the view. The view did. Looking out across the river-scape, I could see why Boromir had fought so hard. What he'd given everything for.

But it was too populated, I thought again as I rubbed my throbbing temple. I'd been able to withstand living and working in Chicago because I'd kept strict practice in maintaining the barriers that kept others' thoughts out. And I was now sorely out of practice. I'd gotten spoiled from allowing myself to sink into the soothing thoughts of Legolas's mind, and that indulgence now came at the price of my throbbing headache as the clamor of so many voices pounded in my head.

Time to do something about it, I told myself.

Tossing my pack and weapons on the overstuffed chair next to the bed, I proceeded to remove my weapons and then climb on top of the dark covers. I crossed my legs Indian-style, and closed my eyes, focusing my thoughts inward. Sometimes it helped to focus on pleasing sounds or light music as I did this, but just as living in my Chicago apartment, there were no chirping birds or pleasant sounds of a forest, which I preferred, so instead, I focused on my breathing as I controlled and strengthened the barriers that shut other minds out.

And eventually, I could hear only the soft inhale and exhale of my breath.

Yet all too soon, I heard another soft noise patting across the stone floor.

"What did you need, Pip?" I asked, not bothering to open my eyes.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked full of surprise. The sounds of his footsteps increased until he was at the bed. And then the mattress suddenly depressed as the young hobbit hopped up to sit across from me.

My eyes popped open at his bold move, but then I smiled, realizing the innocence of the hobbits was something I loved most about them. To them, it was no big deal to hop up on a woman's bed.

"I knew it was your footsteps because I recognize the sound of you sneaking around." I laughed as his ears colored to pink. "Plus, who else your size and weight would be coming into my room unannounced?"

"What were you doing?" he wondered, gesturing to where I sat. "You looked almost like you was asleep sitting up. I almost decided to turn around and leave, but I couldn't believe you could really be sleeping while still sitting upright."

I laughed happily, the hobbit already lifting my spirits—and making me realize how much they needed lifting, and how lonely I was. "I was meditating."

"What's 'meditating?'" he asked, repeating the word in a slow, drawn out way.

With a shrug, I tried to explain, "It's where you focus on shutting the world and all its problems away, and focus on something like breathing. Mostly I do it to try and shut the voices out."